First encounter at the house: Latrodectus geometricus

[darin]

The spider Latrodectus geometricus, commonly known as the brown widow, grey widow, brown button spider, or geometric button spider, is one of the widow spiders in the genus Latrodectus. As such, it is a "cousin" to the more famous black widow spider. The brown widow is found in parts of the northeastern and southern United States (including Florida, Alabama, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas); as well as in parts of Australia, South Africa and Cyprus. The origin of this species is uncertain, as specimens were independently discovered in both Africa and in the Americas. They are usually found around buildings in tropical areas.

... Dr. G.B. Edwards, a University of Florida arachnologist claims that brown widow venom is twice as potent as the black widow venom, but is usually confined to the bite area and surrounding tissue, as opposed to the Black Widow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus_geometricus

Monday evening, whilst giving a tour of the grounds to my landlord (who is a friend), i noticed peculiar spore-shaped egg sacks hanging from webbing in one corner of my patio area. I'd remember reading about a Brown Widow's eggsacks and started getting nervous.

Last night I sprayed down the area and came back an hour later to see the spider hanging, dead, by a web strand. I flipped it over using sticks and leaves to ensure it was what I thought it was.

Yup!

God bless the south, eh?